When we last saw the Daleks in the
Doctor Who story Remembrance of the Daleks, they
were fighting among themselves and their homeworld Skaro was destroyed.
But in the Doctor Who TV-Movie starring Paul McGann, we got a
glimpse of the planet Skaro which is apparently intact.
So what the heck happened?
The Empire of the Daleks takes on the
ambitious task of explaining it. And then some. The Daleks return
to their former strength with a vengeance. The Doctor (Jeffrey
Coburn) and his companions discover that the Daleks have somehow
reunified their forces. What's more, they have changed their own
past and the Doctor must find out how they succeeded.
Then-associate producer Thomas Himinez,
and Dark Dreams scriptwriter and former script editor Joe Medina,
worked together on this six-part audio-adventure. Their intention
was to create an epic tale in which the Daleks would be dangerous
adversaries once again and, at the same time, provide a worthy
backdrop for the personal stories of the characters fighting them.
Empire of the Daleks will be the last
trip aboard the TARDIS for Mark Triyad (Peter Hinchman). We learn
more about his past and the psychological scars left from his
military career in the 24th Century. And through the course of
his final adventure, Mark gets a chance at new friendship (and
possibly romance), only to watch it die before his very eyes...then
find it again.
We also get hints about the past of
companion Dara Hamilton (Sheri Devine). Dara first appeared in
Countdown to Armageddon as a rebellious student at the Cantebury
School for Girls. In Empire of the Daleks we find out that Dara
had deeply personal reasons for attending Cantebury School, reasons
that still haunt her even now.
But the Doctor's companions aren't
the only ones with curious revelations in Empire. The Daleks destroy
lives as well as exterminate them, and the characters that appear
in the story to oppose them provide testimony to it. Not only
is the survival of the human race threatened by the Daleks, but
also its nature. The relentless and brutal struggle reveals the
dark aspects of characters we think we can rely on in this story,
and the lowest of the low finds a shred of human decency in himself.
And the Doctor himself will do things
that no one would do even in a fan-created Doctor Who story like
this one. Listen to Empire of the Daleks and find out for
yourself.